Week 12

Game Time

Macker Maniacs and Finch Fanatics alike, the moment we have all been waiting for has arrived. At 8 a.m tomorrow morning Opening Ceremonies will begin and the 2017 Gus Macker Basketball Festival at Central Michigan University will commence! But before we get into that, I need to fill you in on what we've been doing this week to make it all possible.

Our last class period together (sniffle) took place yesterday and we were once again reunited with the Macker National Staff members who we had met individually throughout the semester. We discussed everything from the animation plan for the weekend to the weather and we filled all 1,000 player bags. Seeing everything we worked on start to come together was super exciting even if it was just the player bags. Our class also owes T.O a big thank you for treating us to ice cream to celebrate our awesome semester!  

Friday was all about set up for RPL 333SL. We assembled the Macker Dream Court in front of Finch, emptied classrooms and created a hospitality room, taped courts, and put up baskets. All of the trophies, medals, and registration materials were brought in and put into their proper place. The bracket corner, concession stand, and Threads by Gus were all set up as well. We even moved bleachers because nothing stops our class from putting on a great tournament for you all! 

Setting everything up was hard work, but an extremely worthwhile experience. While we had a learning curve with set up, hearing the Macker National Staff talk about how things should look and run was like having a glimpse into the future. We are students now and have very scattered experiences with events, but someday we will work for places like Gus Macker and know an event forwards and backwards. We are a great team as a class, but someday we will be in smaller staff groups and create even stronger bonds in the work force which the National Staff clearly demonstrates. While this is exciting to see, it also reminds us to treasure the moments we have now as a class entering into tournament weekend. 

Speaking of tournament weekend, like I stated earlier Opening Ceremonies begins at 8 a.m! Be there or be a bad nut! The energy on the courts is going to be insane this year and you don't want to miss it. We've made all the accommodations for our record breaking attendance including extra bathrooms that are super nice. Support our class and all of the teams that signed up by coming out tomorrow!

You can still follow us on social media, we'll still be posting away, but you should also download the Gus Macker Mobile App. It is compatible with both Apple and Android products. This app will allow players and spectators to look up court details, have instant access to accurate bracket information, and will send out notifications regarding court changes and weather delays. The best part? The app is free! 

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See you all tomorrow for a sweet time!

Week 11

The Countdown Begins

Hello Macker fans! Can you believe our tournament is next week already? In ten days our class will begin setting up for one of the most lively weekends in our college career. We are excited and anxious, but mostly ready to open this tournament to the public and see the results of our hard work.

I know I have been busy this past week busting out the Gusette that each player will receive in their player bags. It will be a great resource for participants and their families because it will contain the tournament schedule, a map of the tournament layout, player policies, tournament procedures, and information about the new Gus Macker mobile app! It will also give you a glimpse into what our class has been up to much like the blog has been throughout this semester. 

This year's Gus Macker Basketball Festival is going to be really special because the RPL 333SL class has bonded so much and all of us work so well together. We have broken not one, not two, but five course records this semester! The latest record broken was the greatest number of registered teams. Last year 223 teams was the highest number, and this year we have over 250 teams signed up to participate!!! 

Speaking for the class here, I want to give a huge shout out to the professors, Tim Otteman and Brittany Milan for expressing to us the true impact of our efforts. I would also like to thank the Teaching Assistants this year for their incredible amounts of Gus Macker spirit and non-stop energy. Great leaders play a big role in achieving success and they should never go unappreciated. We thank you wholeheartedly.

Our tournament registration is now closed. While you can no longer sign up as a player we would all appreciate any Macker fans coming to cheer teams on, enjoy the energy of the festival, and seeing what Central Michigan University and the Mt. Pleasant community is all about. Opening Ceremonies begin at 8a.m on the 29th! As always, you can follow us on social media to learn more about what our class is up to on these final ten days!

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Since I lack pictures this time, I found a video for you all: 

Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka Quotes to Live By

Week 10

Field Trip!

This week Central Michigan University didn't have class Thursday or Friday, so the Macker family didn't meet. Some of us couldn't handle the separation however, and headed down to Grand Rapids to volunteer for a one day Gus Macker Madness event! 

We arrived bright and early at 6:30a.m on Saturday to learn how to sign participants in and the doors opened at 7a.m to the masses of basketball fans. This event was so popular that the Macker National Staff had to set up fold out courts over the soccer turf to accommodate all of the teams. The energy at MSA Woodland was incredible. People were there for family, friends, wholesome fun, and basketball. It was eye-opening to see reasoning so simple and genuine form the basis of a major event. We are striving to keep those good vibes coming at our tournament!

Our event date, April 29th-30th, is quickly approaching and our deadline for registering is less than a week away! If you are interested in participating you have until April 10th to go to https://macker.com/ and sign up for the Mt. Pleasant tournament. That is also the same date as our Buffalo Wild Wings fundraiser, so if you are in the Mt. Pleasant area between 11a.m-2a.m stop by the restaurant for some wings and support our class. Show them the following image to count for the fundraiser! 

As always if you're interested in learning more about our class and what we're up to follow us on social media. We're doing sweet things throughout campus and the Mt. Pleasant community all the time. Also, hit up your favorite Macker student to be part of our 50/50 raffle through United Way. Tickets are being sold for $5 and will give you the chance to win over $1,000. You could buy a lot of Wonka bars with that kind of money!

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Week 9

The Importance of Volunteers

This week our class was visited by a very special guest, Tim Otteman's mom, Suzi Tengen! We got to meet the person who inspired our professor to become the events master he is today and learn from her intensive events career. Mrs. Tengen focused her talk on being prepared and volunteer treatment. She also convinced us all to get fanny packs!

She emphasized choosing volunteers wisely and utilizing them to their full potential. While friends are lovely people, sometimes they don't make the best volunteers. It is no secret that the keystone of any event is amazing volunteers, so choosing the best is very important. After selecting the proper workforce, you have to use them! Nobody wants to spend their precious time sitting around uncomfortably twiddling their thumbs when they thought they would be experiencing an event. By making volunteers identifiable and training them to be helpful they can work wonders for your program. 

Mrs. Tengen's advice for being prepared was simple: have an event fanny pack and carry it everywhere. What should be in your event fanny pack? Her recommendations include a first aid kit, a sewing kit, an eyeglass repair kit, an emery board, pen and paper, hair ties, dental floss, lip balm, breath mints, and a little cash. Our class gave her some suggestions and together we created a comprehensive list to have on hand to turn little disasters into chances to impress. Watch out Macker fans, we're getting fanny packs! 

Thank you for following the progress our class makes week after week. Your support means a lot to all of us! We don't have class this Thursday, but some of the class is headed to Grand Rapids for a one day Gus Macker tournament on Saturday! If you want to hear more from us, be sure to follow us on social media!

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Week 8

The Tournament Gets Some Direction

This week our class met Mike Fuller, the Macker National Staff Vice President of Sales and Operations. Mike started as a volunteer Gus Buster and after 25 years with the event continues to lay down the law as our Director of Operations this April. His goal was to begin the conversation on how to run our tournament smoothly while representing Gus Macker in a positive light.

He started this conversation by telling us two things we needed to internalize regarding the Gus Macker Basketball Festival. First, that it is a family oriented event and second, our goal is to make people want to come back year after year. Our tournament, April 29-30th, is the first full scale Michigan tournament of the season so we are under the microscope. If people don't have a good time at our tournament they might not go to another all summer. Under Mike's experienced supervision though, a great experience is guaranteed!

After long discussions on tournament logistics, we got to hear from Mike on what makes Gus Macker truly a special organization and event. He loves being part of the National Staff because he gets to work with positive people everyday. Gus Macker is 44 years of tournaments strong and they continue to maintain a great environment for fans of the sport. What's not to love?

Mike informed us that we have now inspired 2 other cities to start launch parties of their own! So far we have been the only tournament to host a launch party, but since Madison and Shelby's talk with 18 other host cities we've spread the launch party love. We're very excited to hear how they like this new edition to their event!

If you would like to hear more from our class and see what we're posting follow us on social media! If you would like to see our class live in action, you can register a team for our tournament April 29-30th by visiting https://macker.com/cities/mt-pleasant-mi by April 10th! If you simply cannot wait until the end of April, have no fear, we're coming to Grand Rapids April 1st for a one day indoor Macker Madness event. It will be hosted at MSA Woodland and the registration deadline is March 26th. You can find out more information by following this link: https://macker.com/local/grand-rapids-indoor.

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Thank you so much for reading and we hope to see you at our upcoming events!

Week 7

The After Party

The past few weeks have been very eventful for the Gus Macker family, but we finally had a breather this last class period and just in time for Spring Break!

This was the first class period after the Launch Party and we took a long time discussing what went well, what went wrong, and what we can do better next time. This is an important part of the event planning process and will allow this class to keep contributing to Central Michigan University in the future. We learned the results of our fundraising as well, and as a class we raised a total of $2,912.00. This ended up being $1,000 more than last year, beating the previous record for most money raised! Central Michigan Life also wrote a news article about the Launch Party which you can read by following this link! http://www.cm-life.com/article/2017/02/gus-macker-kick-off-at-okellys

I must include another shout out to two Teaching Assistants, Shelby and Madison, who got to speak about our class at the Gus Macker Conference. At this conference, 18 cities who host Gus Macker Basketball Festivals come together and discuss the pros and cons of the event. Our team members had the honor of sharing what we do as a class and blowing the other cities away with how much we accomplish as 30 college students! They received a standing ovation and our class couldn't be prouder!

That's all I have to report for this class period, but we do have more upcoming events and information for you! Registration for the tournament April 29-30 is now open, if you have an interested team be sure to check out https://macker.com/ and click on Mt. Pleasant to register for our tournament. We will also be coming to Grand Rapids, MI for a one day Gus Macker Event April 1st! 

As always you can follow us on social media to gain more information hot off the Finch Factory conveyor belt!

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Week 6

The Launch Party  

This week, instead of having class, we threw a party! I would like to start this post by giving a huge shout out to my classmate, Summer Sharrad, and the special events team that made this event possible. They did such an amazing job!

Our class took to O'Kelley's Sports Bar and Grill early in the day to decorate and prepare for our biggest fundraiser of the year. We had a huge crew blowing up balloons and sticking all of our hand-made decorations throughout the restaurant. The place really lived up to our hashtag candy is dandy! 

The evening began with a warm welcome from Tim Otteman, and then the microphone was handed over to a previous RPL 333SL student, David Wong, who hosted the auction. We had upbeat music, six drink specials including soda, a chicken tender bucket special, and a photo booth for guests to capture some memories with. The first seventy-five people who came and bought a wristband received a delicious Insomnia Cookie to sweeten the deal as well! All of the screens in the restaurant displayed photos from this class and past tournaments, a timer for the auction, and important dates and information all promoting the festival. The Macker Man himself even made an appearance to get everyone fired up! 

 

The three tiers of the silent auction helped us to go above and beyond our fundraising goal, and the exact numbers will be posted next week! Our entire class would like to thank all of the incredible businesses and people who donated to make this event possible! We had excellent prizes, intense bidding wars, and many happy participants who walked away with exactly what they wanted. People who came for the specials and the fun had a great time catching up with friends and celebrating our Macker spirit. Overall our class couldn't be happier with the outcome and our Launch Party was a big success!

Now, every good party has an after party, and our Launch Party was no exception... even if the after party was a few days later. This past Sunday was a special bonding time for our Macker family. We made it over to our professor Tim Otteman's house for a movie night. The featured flick was none other than Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! I couldn't make it myself due to work, but I will share some of the pictures I was sent to emphasize how amazing this class is. We have so many opportunities because of the Gus Macker Basketball Festival, and Tim Otteman and Brittany Milan truly make it a once in a lifetime academic experience for us. 

If you would like to continue following our adventures through the Finch Factory please follow us on social media!

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